Advances in technology have resulted in smaller and more powerful personal computing devices. For example, there currently exist a variety of portable personal computing devices, including wireless computing devices, such as mobile phones, smart phones, netbooks and laptops that are small, lightweight, and easily carried by users. More specifically, such devices may communicate voice and data packets over wireless networks. Many such devices incorporate additional features to provide enhanced functionality for end users. For example, a smart phone can also include a digital still camera, a digital video camera, a digital recorder, and an audio file player. Each of these portable personal computing devices may include a variety of different integrated circuits for performing the various functions.
The integrated circuits may include dynamic circuits which use a clock to perform a pre-charge phase and an evaluate phase. During the pre-charge phase (or setup phase), the dynamic circuit resets a logical state node to a predetermined logical state (conventionally, a logical one). During the evaluation phase, the logical state stored in the dynamic circuit is evaluated. In one example, the pre-charge phase is performed when the clock is low and the evaluation phase is performed when the clock is high.
The performance and functionality of the dynamic circuit may be affected by variations in the fabrication process used to manufacture the dynamic circuit. For example, variations in the fabrication process may change the leakage current or strength of NMOS and PMOS transistors in the dynamic circuit, which alters its performance. In some cases, the variations in the fabrication process can cause the dynamic circuit to erroneously change its logical state.